blogging away

How do I decide what to blog on each morning? Mostly it's not planned, mostly I just open 

for Blogger and start typing what comes to mind, and what appears on the screen in front of me ends up having been my topic. Not always, but mostly. Now and then it gets deleted because it was too personal, not often but sometimes. 

Like my extreme fear of 2024 ending with the American people having voted to bring down our form of government and the American way of life. What a downer. Why would people do this? Our extremely fragile form of democracy that has existed since 1776 depends totally on having loyal opposition, and it only works because people honor the rules. It would be extremely easy to bring it down. I have read that a large segment of Americans favor use of force in our government process and way of life, which makes me mindful that there are benefits to finding oneself a Super-Ager, in extreme old age. Too old, I won't do it, but've been scrolling other places to live, and it appears that another universe is the only reasonable alternative. 

My war views - - I've said too much already about Russia v Ukraine and especially about Israel v Hamas. It's pretty clear that situations are extremely dangerous, more likely to expand than to be contained. The good news would seem to be Iran telling Hamas that, Hamas not having informed Iran of their 7 October plans, Iran will not be drawn into direct participation; except that Iran is likely playing the same deception on us that Hamas played for several years, beguiling Israel into believing there was an opportunity for cooperation and peace. There is or was a guiding principal of acting according to the enemy's capabilities, not the enemy's intentions, and Israel's leaders were fooled, are fools. It is turning out very costly, is just getting started, all the options are barbaric, and the prospects are horrific. A smiley face and positive attitude won't solve it this Time.

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Browsing online earlier this morning, I came across another of those articles about how people feel as life comes to an end: we wish we had done what we wanted instead of what we thought other people expected of us. It's a one-sided proposition that never addresses how people feel that bolted or revolted and did their own thing. As in Frank Sinatra, "I did it my way." Myself, I was pretty conventional, but I know and have known folks who shook things up and did their own thing in life: there were heavy costs, but they seem to be glad they did. I'd be interested in a study that observed and reported on them instead of focusing on the morose "if only" crowd. What's the proportion each way? IDK. 

Below is the synopsis of what I read this morning. 

T88&c

 

For eight years, Bonnie Ware was an in-home caregiver who looked after people who were dying. Her clients knew they were severely ill, and most were in the last three to 12 weeks of their lives.

But Ware gradually realized that the most important role she was playing was not physical, but emotional. She was there to listen, and she catalogued those intimate reflections her book, "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying." 

In their last days, many of her patients shared with her their regrets. The most common answer, according to Ware, was: "I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.